NOTE: After we published this article, Toyota wrote to ask that "recall" be changed to "Customer Satisfaction Campaign," since it is not subject to an official NHTSA recall notice. Following further back-and-forth with the company's corporate communications group, we ascertained that the modification is termed a recall everywhere in the world except in the U.S.

The Japanese automaker only recently began investigating the possibility of a mass-market battery-electric car, which may see the light of day in 2020.

The presence of the Toyota Prius Prime 25-mile plug-in hybrid as a possible launching point for a future all-electric car may have weighed in to that decision.

The challenges of working with multiple third parties and govenrment entities to establish a large-scale hydrogen fueling infrastructure, along with slow Mirai sales, may also have been factors in that decision.